The former Miss America has joined a list of half a dozen party activists or leaders waiting for Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes to decide whether she’ll run in 2014 against Mitch McConnell for his U.S. Senate seat.

If Grimes run, she’s likely to get enough support to clear out the field. Otherwise, the Democrats have potential candidates known within political circles, but who may be not instantly recognizable with the majority of voters—former state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Garmer or environmental activist Tom FitzGerald, for example.

Without Grimes, Democrats may find themselves with a crowded primary—and that would cause problems in a bid to unseat McConnell, who polls suggest is vulnerable, says Dewey Clayton, a political scientist for the University of Louisville.

“Oftentimes when you have a very crowded field one candidate may emerge with not actually a majority of the vote but a plurality,” he says.

A Democratic nominee who lacks majority support would have difficulty overcoming McConnell.

Clayton notes that since actress Ashley Judd took herself out of the race earlier this year, Democrats have struggled to get a candidate.

“But since then no one has sort of filled that void and at some point someone is going to need to step forward,” he says.

Republicans have frequently mocked Democrats for failing to find a candidate, claiming the party has had almost a dozen candidates turn them down.

“The fact that Democrats are openly encouraging Heather French Henry to run for US Senate is indicative of their desperate and failing recruitment efforts for the 2014 Senate race,” Republican Party of Kentucky spokeswoman Kelsey Cooper says.

Clayton says the less prominent candidates talking about running fuels that narrative.

But, he adds, Democrats still have some time to find a viable candidate.